Tremendous changes have been occurring in the Internet that influence our everyday lives. For example, online social networks have become the new meeting grounds. They have been called the new power lunch tables and new golf courses for business life in the U.S. Moreover, many people are using such online social networks to reconnect themselves to their friends, their neighborhood, their community, and the world.
The development of such online social networks touch countless aspects of our everyday lives, providing instant access to people of similar mindsets, and enabling us to form partnerships with more people in more ways than ever before.
However, as social networking transforms our lives, many businesses continue to struggle to keep up, and provide value to the consumer in such a structure. For example, some people may be hesitant to visit and/or sign up to a social network service. This may especially be true, where the social network service is presented to the person, through an un-solicited communications, such as an advertisement, from a stranger, or the like. Such communications might not be trusted by the recipient. The recipient may therefore, select to discard the un-solicited message. The result is that the business may lose an opportunity to extend value to a consumer's online experience or to grow a consumer base. Moreover, a potential consumer may also lose an opportunity to expand their social networking relationships and experiences. Even where the communications does come from a friend, or other trusted source, the communications may provide limited assistance in joining the proposed social networking service. Often, the communications merely provides a link to a social network service that may be incompatible with the recipient's mobile device. Thus, many businesses are searching for new ways to integrate and improve social networking features that appeal to the consumer, while making a profit. Therefore, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.